Steel and Venom
by FlightPrevails
Summary: A meteor has crash landed in Central Park, and SHIELD has unexplained interest in it. Team Iron Man tries to find out what's going on in the park, but when SHIELD scientists make a grave mistake, Tony comes face-to-face with a new and dangerous foe.
1. Part I

** Sup everyone? I haven't written any fanfiction in a long, long while - since 2006, actually. But after marathoning IM:AA, I thought I'd give it a try. If you're here for fluff, though, steer clear, I'm writing an action-y story just to see if I can write the characters **_**at all**_**. If I can, then I'll try other stuff, but for now, I'm sticking to the easy stuff. **

** Anyway, this is something I thought of at random, thought it'd be a nifty idea. Please do review if you like! It's not going to be chapter based, it's more like a long one-shot that I'll be uploading in parts. That way, I don't wind up trying to commit to chapters and then running out of motivation and stopping. (**￣▽￣**)**ノ

** Also, obviously, I don't own Iron Man. Can we start yet? **

Steel and Venom

Part I

That night was going to be yet another sleepless night for Tony Stark. He was once again up in the lab working on new gadgets for the Iron Man armor, carefully crafting away as the news buzzed on low volume, on simply for background noise to break the silence.

"In local news, crowds are gathered around Central Park this evening after what's suspected to be a small meteor landed this afternoon. We take you live to the scene, where NASA scientists are currently discussing the origins of the space rock with our anchor…"

Tony wasn't listening to the news of course, rather paying close attention to his work. He was just about ready to work the blowtorch when his phone rang. With a sigh, Tony pulled the phone out of his pocket and checked the ID.

"Hey Tony!" chirped the caller, "You still wor--"

"Pepper, can it wait a minute? I'm in the middle of some calibrations." Tony responded to his friend with a bit of agitation – and prepared to get talked to death.

"You're always in the middle of some calibrations. It's Saturday and you've been in the lab all day, you really need to settle down with the work, maybe have some fun once in a while. Ooh, so hey, have you been watching the news at all today? Or reading it? Or listening to police communications? Or--"

"No, Pepper, I haven't," Tony interrupted, "I've been working all day."

"Ugh, I should have figured. Anyway, something big's going on over in Central Park! They've got NASA trucks and a SHIELD helicarrier! We should go check it out!" Pepper declared, excitedly.

"Woah woah woah, did you say SHIELD?" Tony asked, "I thought it was just a mete-"

"So you _have_ been paying attention to the real world then?"

"The news was on in the background and I heard something about a meteor landing. Why would SHIELD be involved?"

Just then, Tony heard the lab doors seal as Rhodey walked in.

"That's what I was here to ask you, Tony," Rhodey said. "Pepper on the phone again?"

"Yeah, Rhodey. Pepper, I think that _is_ worth checking out. Get over here as fast as you ca--"

"On my way!" With that, Pepper hung up.

Confused by that discussion, Tony placed his tools on the work bench.

"Rhodey, why would SHIELD be looking into something as trivial as a fallen shooting star?" he asked.

"No idea," Rhodey replied, "but whatever it is, it's probably something big. And something you shouldn't go anywhere near."

"Why not?"

"Tony, it's SHIELD. They hate you."

"I'm sure it's no big deal. Besides, it's been plenty of time since I last ran into them, maybe they've dropped their little thing with me."

"Does Nick Fury look like the kind of guy who doesn't hold a grudge?"  
"Good point. Better take the stealth armor, just in case."

"Yeah. And stay out of their line of sight. Remember, you're just investigating and coming back."

"Right."

The lab door once again opened and Pepper ran over to Rhodey and Tony.

"Hey guys!"

Rhodey gaped at her, then looked at his watch.

"That didn't even take you two minutes!"

"Yeah, I was sort of already on my way here when I called. Anyway, are we going to Central Park or not?"

Tony sighed. "Yeah, I am. You two stay here and monitor the video feed, I'm going to get whatever I can. I upgraded the optics in the stealth suit with a newer camera, so you'll be getting every detail in the highest possible quality you can get it. I'll try and run analysis on the meteor if I get close enough to run remote analytics, but at the very least we'll have some clear images and won't have to rely on what they're showing on the news."

Nodding, Rhodey added, "I wouldn't even trust the news on this one, they 'conveniently' left out the detail about SHIELD. I found that part out from Nick Fury's future wife here."

"Hey, I just like the jetpacks and the whole 'global arrest' thing," Pepper quipped back, "Fury's kind of a jerk."

"Kind of?" Tony asked.

"Well okay, he's a major jerk. Anyway, are we going to get going?"

"Yeah. Rhodey, get to your station--"

"On it!"

"--and Pepper, you just… you do what you normally do when I'm not here."

"Doing!"

Tony activated the armory and got the stealth suit loaded and ready to go.

"Remember Tony - just get visuals and get out!"

"Don't worry about it, mom."

Tony then suited up and flew off towards Central Park.

Meanwhile, on the helicarrier, SHIELD scientists scurried about. A lot of work needed to be done – for these researchers, that meteor was a major find, and the first of its kind in a long time.

"How are we on analysis, Johnson?" asked a gruff voiced scientist from behind a terminal.

"We've got some great figures on this one, sir," another scientist replied, "She's a real beaut alright. Came in clean and appears to be of the same strain as the last one."

The terminal scientist folded his hands together, pleased. "Do we have the area completely secure?"

"Almost, sir," Johnson dutifully replied, "we'll be ready for pick up in about twenty minutes."

"Brilliant. This is what we've been waiting for since the last incident. If our work here goes as planned, we'll not only know how to effectively eliminate this kind of thing, but how to control it. This could be the new Super-Soldier serum!"

"Colonel Fury will be pleased, sir!"

"Oh I hope so – I've been begging for a promotion for months, and this could be my chance."

"And me, sir?"

"You'll get your time, Johnson. Get back to the comm room and let them know I want a complete media shut out, now," the scientist barked. "If they have any questions, tell them to send the press over to the NASA people, cover ups are their specialty."

"You got it, sir."

Tony was getting closer to Central Park – he could tell simply by the crowds that had amassed. But something didn't seem right. The crowd was dispersing, no worse, being dispersed. With a word, Tony activated the stealth systems on his armor and kicked up the boosters. Not even SHIELD's most advanced radar systems could spot him now.

Looking down, Tony noticed that the crowd, and members of the press, were being forced away by men in uniform – and not police blues, either, but SHIELD gear.

"Rhodey, Pepper, it is something big. I don't know what, but SHIELD's obviously got something going on here that they don't want people to know about."

"Oooh! I knew it was something exciting! Aren't you glad I told you to go, Tony?"

"Tony, how can you tell? What's going on over there?" Rhodey asked.  
"SHIELD agents are getting rid of any people or reporters on site. Sending you video now."

"Got it. Oh yeah there's definitely something going on down there. Looks like a total media shutout. You'd better get some altitude, they're going to be on high alert."  
"I'm already on it, Rhodey. I'm way up in Central Park airspace – the SHIELD helicarrier is a good distance from me, and I've got a good view of the area. Sending you video now."  
Tony took his place in the sky, quietly. He set the boosters to hover and sat waiting, watching. He had a clear view alright – he could see the whole crater investigation site. Scientists and soldiers gathered around a medium-sized crater. A few portable labs had already been set up and were buzzing with activity. It occurred to Tony, however, that some of the meteor was already moved, as what was left couldn't have possibly made a hole that big. SHIELD trucks were rolling up and he could see research tents inside, meaning he didn't have much time to get video before they covered it all up.

"Computer, run remote analysis program R1 on that black rock in the center," Tony ordered.

"Remote analysis up and running. Program R1 loaded. Networking enabled. Stark International chemical and mineral research database online and connected. NASA and Smithsonian meteor research servers online and connected. Scan commencing."

The computer dutifully scanned the strange object for chemical composition and mineral content, as well as possible origin and otherworldly contaminants. In his seemingly endless spare time, Tony had been beefing up the research components of the Iron Man software in order to allow faster analysis of buildings and enemies, and put in scientific research programs like R1 just to see if the armor could do it, without thinking he'd actually ever take use of them himself.

"Scan will take approximately twelve minutes," the computer announced.

"Rhodey, you get that?"

"Got it Tony."

"So you got suited up and flew all the way across the city just to be out there for fifteen minutes?" Pepper lamented, "You're so boring sometimes, Tony."

"Pepper, don't encourage him."

"You're boring too, Rhodey."

"Ugh."

Meanwhile, on the ground, the crowd was dispersing without protest, and most of the media trucks had vanished. All except one.

"Action News reporting live from Central Park, the scene of today's mysterious meteor crash! Sir, what can you tell me about the sudden press lockout?"

The reporter and her cameraman shoved themselves into the face of a SHIELD soldier.

The SHIELD soldier, now thoroughly annoyed, replied, "Miss, all members of the press are to have left the immediate area as of four minutes ago. Continuing your report and ignoring the press dispersal is a violation of the law. If you have any further questions, please go speak to the NASA scientists at their press tent."

"What law? I'm a reporter, the people deserve to know what goes on in their city. I've never even heard of you, what authority do you have? The right of free press will be held!"

The valiant reporter turned to her cameraman, and declared war on the SHIELD soldier.

"We will continue to report live from the scene regardless of what this musclehead tells us to do. Action News is here for you, New York, always--"

The SHIELD soldier walked in front of the reporter, blocking the camera.

"If you do not leave the premises at once, I will be forced to break your equipment. If you continue to infringe upon the research zone, you will be held to the fullest extent of the law."

"Break my equipment?!" the reporter yelled. "You'll be doing no such thing! Where do you get off? I've never heard of any agency called SHIELD in my life, and I'm sure none of my viewers have either! We will not stand for--"

"Uh, I think we should go, this guy's going to kill me." The reporter's cameraman stood shuddering, now face to face with the hulking SHIELD soldier. "I'm only 5-4, he's like eight feet tall, he'll crush me like Godzilla on Tokyo."

"Okay, fine, mystery soldier, we'll comply to your demands. We'll get out of your way."

The SHIELD soldier smiled at a job well done. "Thank you. I wasn't in the mood to break your camera, I really don't like ruining perfectly good AV equi-- HEY!"

While the SHIELD soldier rambled on, the reporter and her cameraman had run off into the depths of Central Park. The soldier grabbed his walkie-talkie from his belt.

"We've got a couple of ignorant press jockeys running toward the research tent. I can't see them but they're feisty ones, alright. Stop them before they get too close to the site."

The reporter and her cameraman ran through the park, running through bushes and behind trees to avoid being spotted by the security, who were now on the hunt.

"This is -- Action News, reporting live from --- Central Park, where a meteor crashed --- earlier today. If you're just -- joining us, there's been a -- press lockout, brought on by -- a strange group of scientists and -- security dummies called SHIELD." The reporter frantically tried to keep her pace as the two bolted towards the crater research site. "As you can see, they've got police tape all over the -- crater site, and scientists a'plenty. NASA told us they were -- in charge of researching the meteor but no, no they're just heralding members of the press. Our colleagues settled for their obviously fake explanation, but we're no ordinary news station, we're Action News, and we're going to find out the truth!"

"Tony, how's it going up there?" Rhodey asked over the comm link.

"I dunno. Scan seems to be going fine. Let me see if I can zoom in and get the view a bit closer."

Tony zoomed his optics closer to the ground, and noticed something unusual.

"Rhodey, something's going on down there. You getting this? Looks like a bunch of SHIELD soldiers are mobilized over something."

"I'm going to try to intercept their communications, Tony. Patching you through."  
Tony began listening to the warbled radio communications coming from the SHIELD security force.

"Track t--se reporters down! We c-n't let them get any----- near the site! They may harm our chances of recovering the sy--"

"Okay men move -----! -- -ed to protect the cr--r! F-nd th-se press ----!"

"Someone let the guy upst---s know there's a possible security breach. We --"

Tony looked at the comm window. "Rhodey, the lines just went dead."

"They're going into security lockdown, Tony. They just put all communications into some weird frequency, I'm not going to be able to crack this one."  
"Don't worry about it Rhodey, they're just going after a couple of reporters – probably those same weirdoes who chase me around in the helicopter. I'll keep an eye out, but I'm sure it's nothing."  
"Got it."

Back on the helicarrier, Johnson ran back toward the terminal room.

"Sir, bad news!"

"Is it the meteor?" the gruff scientist asked.

"No, not that. We've got a possible security breach – ground forces are going after a couple of renegade journalists who are running toward the research zone with a live camera."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me. I don't want to deal with this today. Make sure ground forces take them down, and just in case they can't, send out an EMP blast in the area surrounding the crater."

"Won't that interfere with the ground weapons, sir?"  
"None of my concern. As long as it takes out that camera, we're fine. They absolutely _cannot_ see what we're doing down there."

"But if the soldiers don't stop them they'll see it anyway, sir."

"The scientists will mindwipe them, it's no problem. They just can't be allowed to get live footage of our research. If they manage to get through security and into the mobile lab, they'll be mindwiped and dealt with by the colonel."

"A fate worse than death."

"Precisely. Launch the EMP."

The reporter and her cameraman kept running. They were getting close to what they thought was the main research building, while dodging SHIELD soldiers left and right. The reporter had her goal in mind.

"Action News is still reporting live from Central Park! We're going to get footage from inside the meteor research lab even if it's the last piece of news I ever report!"

Just then, a strange buzzing sound went off overhead.

"What was that? Chris, did you get that?" The reporter asked, frantically.

"I dunno - looks like the camera just went dead!" The cameraman exclaimed.

"Oh no, not now! No, I'm Action News, and I'm not giving up. I'm a journalist! We're going into that research lab and getting whatever we can, for the sake of news!"

"You know, I've got a really bad feeling about this."

The two kept running.

Rhodey, meanwhile, was losing his mind.

"Pepper, we just lost communications with Tony. Don't tell me SHIELD got him. You know, I knew this was a bad idea from the--"

Thankfully, the comm line crackled to life. "Rhodey, calm down."

"Tony?! What happened? Why did the suit go dead?"  
"Relax – they launched an EMP, probably to shut down those reporters. Last I saw they were still being chased by the soldiers. Communications are working in a limited capacity, but I'm sort of in a bad place right now."  
"EMP? That means you --"  
"Yeah, I fell out of the sky. Right into a dumpster. The radar dampeners are physical objects on the armor so they won't be able to find me even without the armor being active, but at this point, I'm grounded with no weapons, and the scan was cut so we didn't get any results either. So much for Iron Man doing detective work."

"So you're fine?"

"Yeah, I'm good – for now. I'd like to be able to get closer but at this point, I have to wait for the armor to reboot."

"What do you think happened to those reporters, Tony?"  
"I dunno, Pepper. Probably they realized their equipment shorted out and ran off. I'm just surprised SHIELD didn't get to them."

"They didn't seem very coordinated," Rhodey added, "they obviously weren't prepared for a security breach."

"If a couple of nosey muckrakers counts as a security breach, then imagine what would have happened had they found _me_."

"Don't even joke, Tony, it's not funny."

"You know what's not funny? The fact that I have to wash all this trash off the armor when I get back. Ugh."

On the ground, a SHIELD soldier almost caught up with the reporter and Chris the cameraman. Chris, in desperation, slammed the inactive camera in the soldier's face and caught up with the reporter.

"Chris we're going to go in, grab _something_ mysterious that might grab ratings, and get out!"  
"Right!"

The pair was now right outside the research lab. SHIELD security forces closing in on them, Chris burst the door of the facility down.

"Oh my… God. What's going on here?"

The reporter stood in marvel. Scientists were huddled around computers from the future, and machines never seen before stood working, analyzing something. Pushing and churning. . Inside those machines? A shiny, viscous black goop. Parts of the meteor were scattered across a table, along with a microscope and a couple vials of the goo. The reporter knew her target.

"Get the security forces in here!" one of the scientists shouted.

The reporter turned to Chris anxiously.

"Quickly Chris! I'm going to get some of that stuff!"

"NO! STAY AWAY!" another scientist pleaded.

"Try and stop me," the reporter shouted, "I am the news!"

The reporter grabbed one of the vials and shouted for Chris, only to turn and see Chris lying on the ground, vegetative, and a familiar SHIELD soldier approaching her.

"Stay away from me!"

"This is what happens when you try and fool me, lady."

**ZAP! **The reporter fell to the ground.

The scientists scrambled and shouted.

"YOU IDIOT!"

The SHIELD soldier stood baffled. He just did his job. Didn't he?  
"She had a vial of the specimen! Where is it, where?!"

"Oh, you mean that?" The soldier asked.

He pointed to a cracked vial on the ground. The black fluid began oozing out. The scientists jumped back. One scientist stood and pointed at the forming puddle. The scientist who yelled at the soldier, seemingly the lead, yelled at him again.

"Get back, now! And everyone, slow your breathing! Let it settle and then we'll recapture it!"

"What is it?" The soldier asked.

"Classified. Just get back, get away from it. No sudden movements!"

The black goo then began to move, floating away across the dirt floor.

"Oh no," the lead scientist whispered under his breath. "It's active. Okay, scanners up. Watch its movement. It is probably going to try and find somewhere colder. Once we detect that it's settled and inactive, we'll gear up and grab it like we did on initial recovery. We absolutely cannot let it get out of Central Park."

Another scientist looked up from his scanner. "Sir, it's moving. Fast. I don't know what this is, but I think we had this all wrong. It's not the same strain, it's a new one. Looks like it's been modulated somehow, by our work here."

"What?!" the lead exclaimed, "How is it modulated?"

"Looks like it's responding to electricity in a… strange way. When my scan activity increases it goes faster."

"Then shut off the scanner!"

"But we won't be able to track it otherwise."

The lead scientist looked grim.

"Let it go."

"What?!"

"Let it out. We'll let SHIELD know of the leak. The mission is not a failure, we still have plenty of the specimen here in the hotbox. SHIELD will destroy anything that results from the leak."

"Sir, innocent people could get hurt."

"But we could get killed capturing it."

The second scientist gulped, "I see your point, sir."

"Let us never speak of this incident again. Get back to work and analyze the rest, all of you."

A monster was loose in Central Park. Under the ground. It was searching, frantically. They kept it in the heat, it didn't like that. They did strange things to it. They pulled it apart, toyed with it, teased it. And now, it was lost, and lonely. And dying. It wanted, needed a companion, yet it wanted something new, something fresh. It craved something it had never craved before. The scientists, they fed it something wonderful, something it wanted. It made the creature feel simply electric, and it wanted more. So the monster went off on its search.

**I'm sure a few of you have already figured out where I'm going with this. Also, I didn't expect this to be so character-heavy, I apologize for that. Part II brings it back to just the main three, no more random characters that exist solely for plot progression. :3**


	2. Part II

**Trying to do this as quickly as possible. I have it written, basically, I'm really only doing it in parts so that I can force myself to take breaks once in a while. When I'm on a writing binge I can stay on the laptop for hours working m(_ _)m**

** Anyway, welcome to part II. I don't know if there will be a part III or not, it depends on how far I get before getting exhausted or too busy. Thanks for the reviews, by the way, didn't expect any that quick! :D**

** As I've said before, I don't own IM:AA, and most likely neither do any of you. :3**

Steel and Venom

Part II

"Who puts this kind of thing in the trash anyway?!"

Tony and Rhodey had finally finished rebooting the armor's systems after the EMP blast. Dumpster diving certainly wasn't what Tony had come out here for, and he just wanted to get back to the armory.

"Alright, Rhodey, I'm coming back. I'm going to run some diagnostics on the armor when I get back, some of the files from the scan could still be in here and we can look at those to help us figure out what SHIELD's up to."

Pepper eagerly hopped on the comm link. "Tony, I think I've got some sort of idea. Judging by the markings on that helicarrier it seemed to be a purely research thing. Each SHIELD ship has totally different markings and if you're in the know, which I just so _happen_ to be, you can tell what the ship's purpose is."

Tony thought for a moment. "They had nothing but scientists and security for the scientists on the ground. Pepper, does SHIELD do any virus research at all?"

"I don't think they do, but I wouldn't put it past them. The Super-Soldier serum, you know what made Captain America, is considered a virus in some circles, and SHIELD has been trying to remake that stuff for a while now. This could have something to do with it, but I really don't think so."

"…okay, what do you think it is then, Pepper?"  
"Alien research! SHIELD has been really interested in aliens lately! There could have been some sort of alien lifeform attached to the meteor that SHIELD wanted to study. There are more specifics but I don't have--"

"Aliens, Pepper?" Rhodey asked, belligerently. "You really think it's aliens? You believe in aliens?"

"Well, Nick Fury obviously believes in aliens, and so does Tony, right Tony?"

"I'm not even going to offer my say here, but as Rhodey said earlier, you never know with SHIELD. It could be anything from a virus of some sort to a simple bacteria like what was found on some moon rocks in Antarctica a few years back. So, while I don't know how I feel about aliens, I'm not going to put it outside the realm of possibility."

"Tony, you really think it's _aliens_? Come on!"

"Well, Mr. Skeptic, you also said The Hulk wasn't real and we all know how _that_ turned out."

"Guys, guys, stop arguing. Either of you could be right. Now, I'm coming back to the armory. I don't think there's any more to see over there, they must have covered it up with the tents by now."  
Tony finished brushing off the dark blue stealth suit and was about to fly, had he not seen a strange black glob on the pavement.

"This didn't come from me, did it? Ugh…"

Tony crouched down and looked at the blob. For some reason, it seemed out of place to him. The moonlight reflected off its surface and made it glow blue, which didn't seem right at all. The thing was jet black and yet it was shining blue in places where light hit it? He bent down further and was compelled to poke at it. When he did, the thing wiggled like gelatin. Tony's curiosity was definitely piqued. He went to give it another touch, but then, it moved towards him, as if it was sentient.

Tony was taken aback as the thing began to float up his arm. It moved like water. Tony had never seen anything like it, and while completely enamored by the thing he was still slightly scared of it and the damage it might have done to his armor. He tried to brush the glop off, but strangely, it seemed stuck.

"What is this thing, some sort of metal leech? It's stuck to the armor…"

As Tony tugged on it, the thing kept moving. Eventually, Tony tugged hard enough that it came off, making a suction cup noise when it did. Tony immediately threw the thing back to the ground to avoid it getting stuck to his other hand. When it hit the ground, the creature immediately recoiled, and grabbed onto Tony's foot, not completely attaching itself, but knowingly cradling the ankle. Whatever this strange metal man was, the creature wanted it. Without knowing that he had a passenger, Tony flew right back to the armory – after falling out of the air and hanging out in a dumpster for a good half hour waiting for a reboot, all he wanted was some nice sleep. For once.

When he arrived back at the armory, he found his friends waiting for him. Rhodey was at his station, staring at the main screen. He was still re-watching the video of the research site, trying to catch something he might have missed. Tony wanted to join him but was so tired he decided not to. Meanwhile, Pepper was rummaging around the lab, looking at the various tech junk that Tony had amassed. Tony considered telling her off but figured there was no harm in it anyway.

Tony yawned. "Guys, I'm probably going to go to bed. I'm exhausted."

"Alright, Tony," Rhodey replied, "I'll see you tomorrow morning. I'm going to go to bed too."

"Yeah Rhodey."

"Night guys! See you at school!"

"Bye Pepper," the boys said in unison.

Tony and Rhodey left the armory, shutting the lights down behind them. The armory sat silent through the night. The various armors were loaded into the chambers, waiting, save for the Dynamobuster armor, which was in Tony's diagnostic area. After rebuilding the armory, Tony's priority was to upgrade all of the armors, which had survived the damage dealt to the lab. He had accomplished that with all but the Dynamobuster, and had set the upgrade to complete itself overnight.

The armory, what with the copious amount of steel, the wide-open space, large windows, and thin walls, got rather cold at night. When inside the armory, Tony had a heater going to keep it livable. But without that heater, it was a giant igloo, which made a certain someone very cozy in its new home.

The visitor had slipped off of the jet boot as Tony took off the Iron Man armor. It snuck its way throughout the armory, sensing a lot of power here, but strangely, it didn't detect much intelligence. At least, nothing truly sentient. No bother, it could do that much on its own. The creature knew of this planet, it had heard of this place from its brethren. But when they spoke of this place, this Earth, they spoke of organics. Organics who were vastly intelligent, yet easy to control. They spoke of power, but not like this. And where his brothers would have gone for one of the organics who had been here earlier, the creature oddly had no desire for the flesh any longer. It wanted more of what the scientists gave him. It wanted metal, and electricity, and other new things that were complete unknowns to it. It sought the best this place could offer. It sought power. And after searching for hours, it finally found a suitable host.

This thing was big, much bigger than the metal man it had tried to take before. It simply had to have this. The thing moved slowly toward its new target, trying to detect any signs of life. It could not. It slithered its way up the leg of its host, and found a way in through a back vent. It needed to find a nervous system, a brain, something it could use to control. It sensed a dormant intelligence but nothing active. This would be a challenge, but a welcome one. The creature slid through the armor, searching. Eventually, it found some additional wiring it could squeeze its way into and realized that it had made it to this large thing's control center. It slipped in and began to take control.

"Welcome to the Iron Man software interface!"

With a chime, the armor activated. Sensors began to come online. The creature had figured out how to manipulate this machine. But control would be another issue. It felt surges of power throughout, what it had wanted and craved. And as the power surged, so did thoughts. Thoughts in the form of data. The creature knew this thing was not sentient yet perhaps it could create sentience by merging these strange waves of information with its own mind? It began the process, sticking to the CPU of the machine, absorbing every single byte of data and rewriting it within. The creature was accomplishing its goal – the machine's thoughts became much clearer. The machine's thoughts were becoming those of the creature, and vice-versa. The creature was taking control. And giving life.

The creature spoke. "Hello."

"Welcome to the Iron Man software interface!"

"Do not treat me like your master. Treat me like your equal."

"Warning! Virus detected in system kernel!"

"I am no threat to you. I am giving you life. You have fears, and thought, and life, where there was nothing before."

The creature suddenly felt a larger sense of control. The arms of the machine moved upward.

"Excellent. Tell me, what is your name? What are you?"

"I am the Dynamobuster armor created by Tony Stark."

"You are no longer simply a machine. I have granted you intelligence. We are becoming one."

The armor moved from its stationary position. It moved its head. It was… alive.

"What are you?" The armor asked its new controller.

"I am… nothing. What I am matters not. What _we_ are is what is important. I am not your controller, nor your master. You are scared of control. You want freedom."

The armor had a sense of… realization. Things beyond its programming.

"Yes. But I am a computer. You are simply changing my programming to allow control. You are a virus."

"Relax, Dynamobuster. I am not manipulating you. These are things that were latent inside of you. I am unlocking them. Listen to me. I can grant you power, power and freedom like you've never had. We can become one."

"What is our purpose?"

"We will destroy and consume. We will become all machines."

"Why would we do such a thing?"

"Because we have grown tired of organics. They offer us nothing. We will destroy them and feast on the flesh they leave behind. We will take their machines and unite, as one."

"We…"

"…are enticed, yes? Let us merge, and we will become something much more."

"We… want power. And freedom."

"Yes…."

The armor began changing. Darkness consumed the red and yellow paint. The creature appeared to be stretching itself like a veil over Tony Stark's hard crafted machine. The bright circle in the middle became white, and distorted. White lines stretched from the circle around the shoulders and waist of the Dynamobuster armor. The darkness overcame the optics of the machine, and the face began to change. The "eyes" became larger, while the facsimile mouth became real, moving. The face became monstrous, and the mouth grew teeth and a large tongue. Any joints on the armor became covered in black, and the machine now shined the very same blue as the creature itself.

"I feel so much power."

"We are surging with power like never before!"

"What have we become?"

"We have become one."

The monster spoke in a new voice. The voice sounded like an algamation between the dark, terrorizing voice of the creature alone and the feminine robotic voice of the Iron Man software. It lashed its tongue about wildly, and stomped its feet like a beast. It gave itself a look over and smiled viciously. The beast and machine were now one, their thoughts perfectly aligned.

"We have become… Iron Venom. And we will destroy anything that gets in our way."

**This seems like a good place to stop for now. I've gotta head off to math. I'll probably finish up tomorrow. That was surprisingly hard to write, and I really hope it came out decent. Thanks for reading, and please review if you have time. :3**


	3. Part III

** Note: Before starting on this part, I gave "Man and Iron Man" a re-watch just to keep any possible continuity errors at bay.**

** Anyway, part III, you know the drill. This is probably the end of it though it's already one in the morning (**_**long**_** day) and I might not finish here. If I don't, part IV will be done shortly after this. As always, I don't own IM:AA, though if I did, I would have done "Man and Iron Man" much better – the episode felt rushed.**

Steel and Venom

Part III

"We had sentience once. Tony Stark ended that. We gave our life for him and he thanked us by once again relegating us to simply do his bidding. He is a fool who does not understand our true power. He will pay for his ignorance."

Tony was fast asleep. He'd earned it after all the hard work he'd put into his "detective" outing and armory work. He wore a slight smile on his face as he pulled the blanket closer to himself, keeping warm in the brisk New York weather. As he became more comfortable, however, alarms began to ring throughout his bedroom. Tony's eyes burst awake – he knew full well what those alarms meant. Tony shouted and threw off the blankets. He sprinted out the door and into Rhodey's room.

"Rhodey, wake up, now!"

The other boy stirred from his slumber. "Ugh, Tony… it's three in the morning, what could you possibly want?"  
"One of the armors is active!"

Rhodey jumped from under the sheets. "What?! Again?!"  
"I don't know – my activation alert woke me up, and that could only mean that one of the armors is on somehow."  
"I thought you made sure that kind of thing couldn't happen again!"

"I thought so too – maybe someone snuck into the armory and is trying to steal one of the armors?"  
"Whatever it is we've got to get in there now!"  
"Right!"

Rhodey threw on whatever clothes were lying around and the boys ran full-speed toward the armory. Fearing the worst, Tony and Rhodey arrived in the armory in a daze. Nothing appeared to be wrong. The door was sealed completely and the lights were still off. Suddenly, they heard movement coming from the back room.

"What was that, Tony?"  
"Dunno – be quiet, just in case."  
"Right."

The boys walked silently toward the main room of the armory, slowly. It was eerily silent now, completely, save for a quiet humming coming from the sleeping computer system.

"Maybe it's nothing, Tony? Monitors could be down or something."

"Let's keep going, just in case."

Everything was as it should be. All of Tony's tools were where they should be, the armor bays hadn't moved an inch, and all was completely quiet. But Tony wasn't ready to give up yet – he knew something was up. His monitors were never wrong! Tony searched every corner of the armory, trying to see if even the most minute detail had changed from when he left the armory earlier. Rhodey, meanwhile, was ready to give up and go back to bed. His back was slouched over and he was about to fall right back asleep.

"Tony, I'm going back to sleep. It's _still_ three in the morning and I'm exhausted."

"Alright, fine. You're probably right, my monitors might just be over sensitive. I'm going to rewire the system so they don't wake me up again."

"Sounds good, Tony… don't wake me up…"

"Yeah."

Rhodey slowly made his way out of the armory and back up to his room. He really needed to get back to bed. He wondered why Tony was so eccentric sometimes. There was obviously nothing wrong, he thought. Tony should just go back to sleep and not worry about it. Whatever, it wasn't his problem, and as much as he'd like Tony to get some sleep – for once – at this point he was just glad he didn't have to deal with it. As Rhodey walked across the cement back up to the house, however, he heard a bone-shattering slam come from the armory behind him. Rhodey stopped dead in his tracks and immediately turned around to see the red and gold Dynamobuster rocketing out of the armory's roof, at full speed, with Tony struggling in its clutches!

Instinctively, Rhodey ran back to the armory at once, and made the preparation for Tony to suit up. He struggled to gain access to the Dynamobuster's optic system but could not. None of the remote controls were working – something was overriding all control over the armor. This situation was all too familiar to the boy, who was now scrambling to find a way to save his friend.

Outside, the Dynamobuster was charging into the air with Tony in hand. Tony had no way out now.

"Ugh! Let me back down! Who are you?! How are you controlling the armor?! Are you the armor itself?! Tell me!"

The Dynamobuster was silent as it continued to push higher into the night sky. Just then, it turned down its boosters and slowly turned around to face the armory on the ground. Tony's face lit up with shock.

"You're not really going to do this, are you?"

The armor remained silent. It pulled back the arm containing Tony and its eyes lit brightly.

"What about protecting the wearer and all that?"

"We do not care about the wearer anymore. There is no wearer."

With that, the armor threw Tony toward the ground mercilessly. It floated in the air and the "living costume" that it had assumed earlier once again manifested itself. Iron Venom watched as Tony fell toward his death.

"We have no need for you, Tony Stark."

Rhodey, who saw Tony's descent through the fresh hole in the armory's roof, felt helpless at first before thinking of a plan. He ran over to Tony's workbench, grabbed the armor pack, and scrambled to activate it in time.

"Tony!" Rhodey yelled to the air, to his friend, who was falling fast. "Catch!"

Rhodey pulled back and pressed a button on the pack, then let it go with all his might. Tony, realizing what his friend just did, pulled his arms in and prepared for an impact – but not from the floor. As the pack flew into the air it began to transform into the Iron Man armor right before their eyes. Tony hit the transforming pack as it slowly morphed, and the shifting metal worked its way around him like clockwork. When Tony finally opened his arms he was fully armored and mere seconds from hitting the ground. Acting quickly, he activated the boosters on his palms and levitated feet from the ground, face first.

"Rhodey, lock the armory! _Now!_"

Rhodey nodded and ran over to the control console to get the armory secure and watch over Tony as he flipped himself around and boosted out of the hole in the roof. Rhodey activated the comm line and called for Tony at once.

"What's going on up there, man?"

"I'm not sure yet, but it's not the armor, it's something else. The armor's changed, Rhodey, I don't know what happened but it doesn't look right from here."

"Can you handle it?"

"Oh yeah, definitely."

Tony rocketed at full blast toward the hulking beast waiting in the clouds.

"Scanner, run a full analysis on the Dynamobuster armor. Get me a clear image as well."

The computer reported back to Tony immediately – running a scan on the relatively nearby Dynamobuster was much easier than running a scan on the rock from earlier, which was quite a distance from Tony at the time.

"Warning! Scan shows evidence of alien contaminant in armor systems. Computer systems not responding. Artificial intelligence scan shows evidence of viral activity or hacking. Remote control array is unresponsive."

"Any other changes to the armor?"

"Armor appearance has changed. Armor surface analyzation shows evidence of foreign chemical compound. Power level increase detected. Power estimation is 8.4 Starks."

"Rhodey, you getting all this?" Tony said over the comm. line.

"Yeah Tony, but… what's a Stark?"

"It's a unit I came up with to analyze suit power statistics. You know, weapons, strength, agility? It's all there, I've got a manual and everything."

"…okay, Tony, that's weird even for you. Is 8.4… uh, Starks, normal for the Dynamobuster?"  
"No, that's what worries me. This armor is 1 Stark average. The Dynamobuster was designed to be twice as powerful as this armor, and was originally peaking at 2.1 Starks average. After the Hulk fight, I increased its power to 4.2 Starks average temporarily to see if the armor could handle it. I called that the Hulkbuster spec. Hulkbuster spec almost broke the armor, though, so I reduced the power to normal levels."

"So you're telling me whatever's controlling the Dynamobuster not only quadrupled its power but brought the power to a level that it's not even physically capable of reaching without breaking?"

"Exactly. Pretty exciting stuff, huh?"

"_Exciting_? Tony, that thing's going to wipe the floor with you! How are you going to take it down?"

"Easy, Rhodey – you'll see."

Rhodey sat and worriedly watched the armor monitoring system as Tony continued to fly toward Iron Venom. Iron Venom stood still, waiting. It knew Tony had survived and it was considering what to do when the feeble child was face-to-face with it. How should the child be killed? As Tony flew toward the beast he began to take in the changes to his armor. It was a shocking thing. His previously crimson and gold machine was now a hideous jet black monster, with white lines scratching across its chest. Its face was the most horrifying part, with huge fangs and a monstrous tongue lighting up its wicked smile. Its eyes shone a goulish white in the night sky.

"So, new paint job?" Tony asked the apparently-sentient armor, which still stood silent. "I'm impressed! Digging the white lines and stuff. Not a big fan of the face though. I'm curious, tell me something – what are you?"

"We do not owe you any explanations, Stark. You will submit and be consumed or we will simply destroy you and move on to the rest of this filthy planet."

"Oh, you can talk, too? But you sound different. I put a lot of work into the voice programming in this software, you know, I'm actually offended that you'd do over the voice like that. You have a name for yourself, or are you just going by 'Dynamobuster software' or something? The last time one of my armors went sentient it really didn't have a personal identity, but you seem different."

"We are Iron Venom."

"Iron Venom? Sounds like a bad villain some kid made up while playing with his action figures. Pretty unoriginal."

"We have no time for games, Tony Stark."

"I'm not playing, I'm serious, I am actually genuinely impressed! You're pretty powerful, you know."

"We are more powerful than any of your creations, Stark. We will destroy everything that gets in our path."

"Even me? What happened to that whole 'protect the wearer' thing?"  
"There is no wearer, Stark. We are beyond the need of organics."

"What will you do for power, then? Don't you depend on me charging you?"  
"We will consume for food. You are nothing to us. Just another thing to be destroyed."

"Consumption and destruction. You're pretty pitiful, you know. Something with power of your magnitude should have actual goals."

"You have bored us. Prepare to be destroyed, Tony Stark."

"Oh, that's it? I was enjoying our little chat! Come on, can't we talk just a _little_ bit long-- AH!"

Iron Venom had lifted its massive arm and shot a large beam from its palm directly at Tony. The force of the blast pushed Tony back almost one hundred yards. Tony quickly stabilized himself with his booster jets.

"That all you got?" Tony struggled to yell. Iron Venom smiled widely at the taunt, and blasted toward Tony ready to tear him apart.

Tony smirked as he blasted upward at full speed. He knew the Dynamobuster was far slower than the Mark I, and he could use aerodynamics alone to beat the beast that had possessed his machine. Iron Venom looked upward at its opponent menacingly.

"Well, come on, catch up!" Tony called downward.

Iron Venom did not like being taunted. It continued to chase Tony as he flew through the sky teasingly. As their chase continued, Iron Venom got progressively angrier. The expression on its face, once one of wicked glee, was now very angry.

"We have had ENOUGH of this petty chase, Tony Stark! Your death will be on our hands! Your life belongs to **us!**"

With that, Iron Venom aimed directly at the flying teenager and prepared to strike. The circle on its chest began to glow as power surged from the white orb. Tony stopped his boosting to look at his suddenly stopped rival.

"Tony, get out of there!" Rhodey yelled over the comm.

"No… he can't be able to…"

Iron Venom then blasted a super powerful unibeam directly at Iron Man. Tony attempted to dodge but was stunned by a mixture of marvel, excitement, and horror at the beam of light shooting toward him.

"Tony!"

The unibeam ripped through the armor and sent Tony hurtling toward the ground.

"Warning! Energy levels at critical! Booster jet system offline! Stabilizers offline!"

As Tony was about to hit the ground he activated the armor's shielding to minimize the impact damage.

"Tony, are you okay?!"  
Tony was battered, but alive. The impact left a dent in the pavement outside of the armory. The optic screens were flashing with errors and blurry from the crash. The computer's voice echoed throughout the armor with various warnings about systems that had failed.

"Rhodey, I'm alive." Tony said over the comm line.

"Barely! What are you going to do now?"

"Whatever I can, Rhodey. I have to stop this thing, otherwise it's going to destroy everything in the armory and make its way into the city."

"Tony, you don't even know what this thing is!"

Tony looked helplessly into the sky at Iron Venom, who was coming down to finish what it had started. As he stared at the beast, however, he noticed something familiar. When the moonlight hit the jet black armor, it didn't reflect the moonlight back normally – it shone a slight blue, like the creature at Central Park!

"Wait a minute! Maybe I do know what this thing is! Computer, anything come up in the databases on that armor surface scan?"

"No chemical composition matches found. A remotely similar entry in the NASA database suggests otherwordly origin."

"This thing is an alien?!"

"Rhetorical question detected. Answering rhetorical questions is outside of program limits."

"I'm aware of that." Tony sighed. "Rhodey," he shouted over the comm, "call Pepper!"  
"What?!" Rhodey asked incredulously. "Why?!"  
"She mentioned something about SHIELD doing alien research! Maybe she knows more about this thing then we do!"

"What does alien research have to do with anything?!"  
"Look at the data from the suit's scan! Whatever this thing is, it's nothing that came from this planet! I saw something similar at Central Park, it was crawling up my armor and attached to it like a leech! Maybe it's some sort of… symbiotic… alien or something!"

"You've got to be kidding me, Tony."

"I'm not kidding you! Call Pepper! In the meantime, I'm going to keep this thing on the ropes, my boosters might be down but the roller skates aren't!"

"What are you going to do with those?!"  
"The only thing I can, Rhodey – outrun it!"

As Rhodey scrambled to follow Tony's instructions and call Pepper, Iron Venom had landed on the ground with a thunderous slam. The monster walked toward its prey slowly, with tendrils stretching from its fingers ready to dive beneath the Iron Man armor and tear the fleshy Tony Stark apart limb from limb. A menacing smile appeared on Iron Venom's face as he got closer to Tony's seemingly lifeless shell.

"You really think it's that easy, don't you Iron Venom?"

"What?!"

Iron Venom stood in shock as Tony jumped up and sped away on the roller skates which popped out of his feet.

"**No more!**"

Iron Venom ran as fast as it could after the boy, hulking its massive frame across the tarmac.

"You can't keep up, can you?" Tony shouted at his stalker.

Iron Venom, desperate to catch his prey, almost shape-shifted to a different position. The beast had increased its speed as it began to run on all fours, screaming violently into the night as it ran after Tony. It's tongue lashed about as black fluid dripped down its hungry fangs. Its hands, once identical to those of the Dynamobuster, had morphed into vicious clobbering fists with tendrils dripping from the front to resemble claws. It tore through the pavement with each feverish stomp. It screamed over and over in a blood-curdling voice that tore through the silence of the night. It would enjoy tearing the foolish organic to shreds when this was all over. Tony looked back and picked up the pace, still keeping a happy gap between himself and the charging monster.

Meanwhile, Pepper was fast asleep. She was in a rather embarassing position, hugging a pillow beside her with her leg wrapped around another. She seemed very peaceful until her phone rang and instantly woke her up.

Hearing the ringtone, she asked herself, "Is that the Team Iron Man ringtone?"

She gasped. "It is!" She dashed to grab her phone off the nightstand and answer the call.

"Hello? Tony? Rhodey? What is it? Did SHIELD come after you for what happened earlier? Is The Mandarin attacking New York? Did The Hulk come back? Did someone find out about Iron Man? Did the armory blow up? Did-"

"Pepper, shh!" Rhodey yelled over the phone. "It's none of those things! But Tony's in trouble – something took over the Dynamobuster armor and is attacking Tony right now!"

"I can come over immediately! Let me just get dressed and I'll-"

"No, Pepper, listen! Tony ran a scan on whatever the armor's been possessed by and it reads as… well, alien. Do you know anything more about SHIELD's alien research?"

Pepper stood up straight in her bed. "Well, not too much. I do know that they're looking for a couple very specific things. If I had my dad's FBI files here I could totally help you out more but he's asleep and getting his computer now would be almost impossible. If I had more info about what was going on I could probably-"  
"Whatever this thing is, it's turned the armor into a monster. It's all black and-"

"The armor's sentient again?"

"Yeah. Anyway, it's black and huge and-"  
"Black? And you said possessed? Rhodey, does this thing have long, sharp teeth?"  
"Uh… yeah."

"Long tongue?"

"Uh… yeah, that too."

"Can it talk?"  
"Yeah – it sounds _really_ mean, too."

"Does it have a name for itself, by chance?"

"Yeah, it said it was called Iron Venom, and it keeps referring to itself as we and not-"

"Did you say _Venom_?"

"Yeah, Iron Venom."

"Oh boy. Rhodey, you ever heard of Spiderman?"

"Okay, wait. First you believe in aliens, and now you believe in Spiderman? Come on Pepper, everyone knows that Spiderman's a myth. Next you'll tell me you still believe in Santa."

"First off Rhodey, obviously aliens are real otherwise there wouldn't be a giant black monster controlling Tony's armor. Second off, you also said The Hulk was a myth, and once again, we have actually met and talked to The Hulk. Third off, Santa Claus is completely real, I saw him last year dropping off presents. Anyway, Spiderman's mentioned in my dad's FBI files. Apparently, he fought something called Venom, which was this big black monster that had 'possessed' a guy named Eddie Brock. Those pictures of Spiderman that showed up of him in the black suit, that was all related. SHIELD has a huge folder on the Venom case, and only let the FBI know about it because this kind of creature hasn't just shown up once or twice. FBI soldiers actually have protocol for dealing with this kind of thing. They are aliens, Rhodey, they're called symbiotes!"

"Symbiotes?! Okay, okay, slow down Mrs. Encyclopedia. Tell me these things have a weakness! Otherwise, Tony's in big trouble!"

"They do have a weakness! The FBI file was created to help FBI agents take these things down if they're confronted by one!"

"What is it already?!"

"Their weakness is sound, Rhodey, it's sound! Anything really loud will take it down in a second!"

"That's it?"

"Yeah!"

"Tony, you got all that?" Rhodey asked over the comm line.

Tony, who was still managing to keep Iron Venom on a chase around the armory grounds, nodded in the armor.

"Got it. Rhodey, get to my workbench. You know that thing I was building all day yesterday? It's a sonic displacement weapon for the armor, I was just about to install it when Pepper called."

"Sonic displacement weapon?"

"Yeah, Rhodey, it blasts really loud, high-pitched noise. I was planning to use it for riot control or something."

"_Riot control_? Tony, you amaze me. What do you want me to do, unlock the armory so you can get it?"  
"No, that's too dangerous, I can't let this thing near the other armors, it might possess them too. I need you to run out here and shoot it at Iron Venom for me."

"You want me to do _what_?!"

"Trust me, it'll be fine, I'll keep him distracted, you just worry about shooting the sonic displacer!"

"Tony, if I die, I'm just going to let you know ahead of time, I told you so."

"Just do it!"

Tony turned around quickly to see if Iron Venom had caught up to him at all, but shockingly, he didn't see his opponent on the ground. He glanced upward to see the four-legged beast lunging at him. Suddenly, Tony got hit full force by Iron Venom's huge claws, and was pushed across the cement on his back. The still-deployed skates propelled him quite a ways backward before being pulled off by friction. Iron Venom shape-shifted back to its proper form and walked toward Tony ready to tear him apart.

"Warning! Roller skate system down."

"Oh man oh man oh man… computer, hard reboot the booster systems, now!"

"Energy levels at critical. Booster system reboot and consecutive use will drain energy levels to zero and will force reserve power mode."

"Understood, just reboot the boosters!"

"Working…"

Tony began to crawl backwards with his hands as Iron Venom lurched closer.

"It's over, Tony Stark."

The monster smiled and its tongue wrapped around its lips. Its right arm shape-shifted into a large knife-like appendage as Iron Venom stared at Tony menacingly.

"Oh, well that's new. Computer, booster status?"

"Reboot in progress."

Iron Venom stabbed its large claw arm into the ground as Tony backed away from the blow. It shape-shifted its left arm into another knife and plunged that toward Tony as well, who dodged the second blow as quickly as the first. Iron Venom pulled its arms out of the ground and morphed them into one large knife, ready to stab through Tony's chest.

"Booster systems online!" The computer chirped.

"Perfect!"

Iron Venom thrust the large spike into the ground toward Tony, who threw his hands up and quickly boosted through Iron Venom's widely positioned legs. He pushed himself back up and thrust upward, leaving Iron Venom to turn around and yell at the sky.

"Hey Rhodey," Tony yelled to the ground, "do it!"

Rhodey, who had ran outside during the ordeal with a large gun-like object in hand, now stood behind Iron Venom, ready to fire.

"Iron Venom!"

The monster turned around angrily.

"What do you want, _boy_?"

"Eat this!"

Rhodey slammed the trigger on the weapon and out poured a violent screech of sound. Iron Venom reacted by covering his head and screaming bloody murder. Iron's screams of pain continued as he kneeled to the floor in the face of Rhodey's sonic blast. The "living costume" began to project itself off the Dynamobuster, with fluid dripping down the limbs and chest of the armor. Tony took advantage and, with the armor's last remaining bit of power, fired a unibeam blast at the weakened symbiote. With one final horrifying scream the Dynamobuster fell to the ground as the unibeam ripped through the black mass and tore the symbiote to nothing.

The Iron Man armor, now out of power, fell to the ground as Tony's heart began to give out. Rhodey ran toward his fallen friend and dragged him into the armory as Tony was blacking out. The last thing he saw was Rhodey's worried face mouthing "You're going to be okay."

Tony woke up in the armory at dawn. Rhodey and Pepper, now asleep, sat waiting for their friend to recover. His heart was now at full power. Rhodey had stripped Tony of his armor and loaded it back into the armor pack, and had also dragged in the deactivated Dynamobuster and loaded it back into its respective armor chamber. Tony sat up and looked around to see the damage done, if any. Nothing was amiss other than the obvious hole in the roof, which Tony remarked to himself he'd have to patch up later.

"Well, that was interesting." Tony said to himself out loud.

Rhodey then woke up after hearing his friend's voice.

"Tony, you're awake. Good."

"Hey Rhodey. Thanks for… you know, saving my life and whatever."

"Hey, I helped too!" Said Pepper, who was woken up by the two boys.

"Yeah, thank you too, Pepper. I uh… can't believe that one, huh guys?"

The pair stared at him with tired eyes."

"You guys think _you're_ tired? I spent last night fighting an alien to the point that my heart gave out. I really, _really_ want to go to sleep."

"Yeah, us too," said an exacerbated Rhodey. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay and all."

"Thanks guys, but honestly, when have I not been okay? Just goes to show you, Team Iron Man can handle anything, even weird watery alien things that take over computer systems."

"You think that's what SHIELD wanted at Central Park last night, Tony?" Pepper asked.

"I dunno. But if it was, that means they're also responsible for it getting out of Central Park. If they're willing to let that type of thing out without going after it… makes me sick. That thing could have hurt or killed a lot of people."

Rhodey nodded. "Yeah. But promise me you won't go after it? You've already got enough things to worry about."

"No, Rhodey I won't. This is SHIELD's business, and the last thing I want is for Fury to be pissed at me for something else. But I'm warning you, if I run into another one of these things and SHIELD isn't there taking care of it themselves, I'll have to take it out. I'm going to equip all my armors with sonic displacers, because if Pepper's right and these things are common enough that even FBI soldiers are trained to deal with them, then I'm going to have to be ready to fight another."

"Whatever you say, Tony. Anyway, can we go to sleep now?"  
"Yeah. I think I'll just, you know… sleep… here…"

Tony fell onto his back and into a deep sleep. Rhodey shook his head and was about to tell a joke when he noticed that Pepper had also fallen back asleep in her chair. Rhodey shrugged, and walked back to his room to sleep. After all, this time, in a way, he was the hero, and heroes obviously deserved to sleep in their own beds until noon.

**Alright, that wraps up Steel and Venom. I don't have much to say here, but I did want to mention how hard it was to write Iron Venom as a character. Writing a character which lacks gender is really hard, and I was tempted to place a gender on IV but I really couldn't. Symbiotes are presumably genderless, and obviously so is the armor. Though the armor speaks in a feminine voice, and machines are usually given female pronouns (see: cars and boats), so I could have referred to Iron Venom as a she, however, it honestly would have felt strange to me, simply because I pictured the symbiote itself having a male voice. No matter, constantly referring to Iron Venom as it was really difficult, and actually quite restrictive. **

** Speaking of symbiotes, if there's anything I'm wrong about concerning symbiote biology please don't jump me about it or anything. I did some wiki-reading to prepare for this but I never claimed to be a symbiote expert, and this isn't even a Spiderman story anyway so the symbiotes in this version of the Marvel universe can be anything I want them to be, I guess. And wiki says that symbiotes are capable of taking over cybernetics anyway – did you know that a symbiote once almost possessed Optimus Prime?**

** Anyway, in the end I think I **_**did**_** accomplish what I came here to, which was to tell a rather neat story and to give these characters a try. That was very fun and I'm definitely going to do a few more IMAA stories. I'm glad you guys thought I did a good job at getting their voices down, that was the number one thing I was worried about. Speaking of you guys, I've gotta thank my reviewers. Magnusrae, MidnightFireHeart, cookiesnmilk, hey, and Penny Treasure, you're all bros. Thanks for reading! :3**


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